The present invention relates to a piece of jewelry, in particular, but not exclusively, it relates to a ring or bracelet.
It is very common that a wearer of jewelry fiddles with the jewelry. This has great comfort value to some people that can be therapeutic helping to relief stress etc. Commonly known types of jewelry, which are designed for such a purpose, are beads carried in the Middle East, known as worry beads, or beads worn around the neck in Asia, known as Tibetan beads. Another type of jewelry which has great appeal is the three band Russian wedding ring. The ring is formed of three interlocking bands which the wearer can work around his/her finger moving the bands with respect to one another.
The present invention seeks to provide a piece of jewelry which is satisfying to fiddle with.
A piece of jewelry comprises a substantially rigid base member comprising a groove along its length and a plurality of beads retained within the groove wherein the shape of the groove conforms to the shape of each bead to prevent transverse movement of the beads and to allow the beads to slide along the groove, the beads being retained by an outer member which engages a groove in each of the beads.
In this way an attractive piece of jewelry can be made which allows beads to be fiddled within one direction only, namely along a groove.
The shape of the groove is preferably such that the base member does not overlap the outer surface of each bead. The outer surface of the side walls of the groove and beads may be curved to form a continuous curved surface to give an attractive finish.
The beads may be retained within the groove by inwardly projecting side walls of the groove holding the beads captive. Another alternative arrangement, would be a monorail arrangement along the base of the groove in the base member engaging a corresponding groove within the beads, the monorail and the groove in the beads being shaped so as to retain the beads on the monorail.
The outer member may be slideable with respect to the beads so that another component of the piece of jewelry is movable.
The inner surface of the side walls of the groove of the base member may be curved, or angled outwardly from the base of the groove.
Preferably, the base member has an annular shape and the beads may slide along the outer circumference of the base member and the outer member may also have an annular shape so that the base member and the outer member are concentric.
The beads may be made of the same material or made from at least two different materials, for example, different types of precious metals, or materials containing different quantities of gold so that the beads are of different colours. Further, the moveable pieces may be set with precious stones.